1948 Singaporean general election

General elections were held for the first time in Singapore on 20 March 1948,[1] when six of the 22 seats on the Legislative Council became directly-elected.

1948 Singaporean general election
20 March 1948
6 of the 22 seats in the Legislative Council
Registered22,334
Turnout63.25%
  Majority party
 
Leader Tan Chye Cheng
Party Progressive
Seats won 3
Popular vote 11,754
Percentage 49.49%
Results by constituency
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Voting was not compulsory and was restricted to British subjects with residency or were born in Singapore. Around 2.4% (~23,000) of the total population of 940,000 voted in the election.

Although various organisations called for a boycott of the elections, voter turnout was 63.1%. The Progressive Party (PP) was the only contesting party, winning three of the six elected seats.

Background

The election was announced on 1 February, and nominations were due by 16 February. The campaign period lasted for 31 days. Polling was scheduled on 20 March 1948 and the First Legislative Council had its first session on 1 April 1948.[2]

In this election there were 4 constituencies: Municipal North-East, Municipal South-West, Rural East and Rural West. Municipal North-East and Municipal South-West elected 2 members each.[3]

Singapore would not have multi-seat constituencies until 1988 and is the last time that multi-seat constituencies had their candidates chosen individually (as in 1988 when the GRC was introduced, the party with the most votes had their members elected en masse rather than the votes received by the candidates individually).

Electoral system

Of the 22 seats in the Legislative Council, six were elected, three nominated by commercial organisations (the Singapore Chamber of Commerce, Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Indian Chamber of Commerce), and thirteen appointed by the British authorities; these included the Governor, Colonial Secretary, Financial Secretary, Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, two Directors, two ex officio Commissioners and four non-officio ones.

The six elected seats were elected from four constituencies; two two-seat constituencies and two single-member constituencies. Parties had no fixed standard symbol and candidates had to ballot for one offered by the elections office.

Results
The Straits Times front page on election day
PartyVotes%Seats
Progressive Party11,75449.493
Independents11,99750.513
Total23,751100.006
Valid votes23,75194.73
Invalid/blank votes1,3215.27
Total ballots cast14,126–
Registered voters/turnout22,33463.25
Source: Singapore Elections

By constituency

Rural West Constituency saw the highest voter turnout at 73.40% while Rural East Constituency saw the lowest turnout at 54.68%. In percentage terms, Sardon bin Jubir (the independent candidate who stood in Rural East) was the highest scoring candidate polling 54.93% of the vote while Progressive Party candidate Lim Chuan Geok who stood in Municipal North-East was the worst performing candidate by polling just 8.14% of the votes. In absolute numbers, Progressive Party leader Tan Chye Cheng who stood in Municipal South-West was the best performing candidate by polling 4,125 votes while Arumugam Ponnu Rajah of the Progressive Party who stood in Rural West was the worst performing candidate with just 460 votes.

The narrowest margin of victory was that of Tan Chye Cheng who polled just 0.7% more than his own party's second candidate Nazir Ahmad Mallal (but both were elected as Members of Municipal South West as the constituency elected 2 members who polled the first and second most votes). 3 candidates lost their $500 electoral deposits: Lim Chuan Geok, Valiya Purayil Pillai and Richard Lim Chuan Hoe. All 3 candidates were candidates contesting Municipal North-East Constituency.

Only 2 candidates managed to poll a majority of the valid votes in their respective constituencies: Sirish Chandra Goho of Rural West (50.03%) and Sardon bin Jubir of Rural East (54.93%). PP's candidate Christopher John Laycock won with the narrowest margin of votes; polling just 5.48% over the third candidate in Municipal North-East whereas Tan Chye Cheng won with the largest margin of 26.18% over the third candidate in Municipal South-West.

Constituency Seats Electorate Party Candidate Votes %
Municipal North-East 2 8,668 Independent Mohamed Javad Namazie 2,672 24.42
Progressive Party John Laycock 2,221 20.32
Independent M. K. Chidambaram 1,622 14.84
Independent Charles Joseph Pemberton Paglar 1,420 12.99
Independent Richard Lim Chuan Hoe 1,161 10.62
Independent Valiya Purayil Abdullah 944 8.64
Progressive Party Lim Chuan Geok 892 8.17
Municipal South-West 2 8,800 Progressive Party Tan Chye Cheng 4,125 42.29
Progressive Party Nazir Ahmad Mallal 4,056 41.59
Independent Mirza Abdul Majid 1,572 16.12
Rural East 1 2,092 Independent Sardon Jubir 607 54.93
Independent Cheong Hock Chye 498 45.07
Rural West 1 2,774 Independent Srish Chandra Goho 981 50.03
Independent Malathi Pillai 520 23.51
Progressive Party Arumugam Ponnu Rajah 460 23.45
Singapore Chamber of Commerce 1 75 – Ewen MacGregor Field Fergusson Uncontested
Chinese Chamber of Commerce 1 50 – Tan Chin Tuan Uncontested
Indian Chamber of Commerce 1 – Rajabali Jumabhoy Uncontested
Source: Singapore Elections

See also

References
  1. Legislative Council General Election 1948 Singapore Elections
  2. "Singapore Legislative Council General Election 1948".
  3. "Singapore Legislative Council General Election 1948".
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